Subject: FOR INFO: - Regulation of websites advertising alcohol and tobacco |
From: Sophie Vandamme |
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:46:28 +0200 |
To: Michel Pettiaux |
WRITTEN
QUESTION by Luca
Romagnoli (NI) to the Commission
Subject:
Regulation of
websites advertising alcohol and tobacco
A few days ago in
Adverts on
websites that are primarily
targeted at young people will be banned; tobacco and alcohol
advertising will
not even be allowed through spam or pop-ups. These rules will close a
How does the
Commission intend to address
the issue?
Does it not
consider that the regulation of
websites (along the lines of the French measure) with regard to alcohol
and
tobacco advertising might be a good idea, to prevent young Europeans
from being
excessively influenced by the message sent by these adverts, which fill
websites for young people every day?
Answer given
by Ms
Vassiliou on behalf of the Commission
Responding to the
Honourable Member, the
Commission would first like to stress that various measures were
already taken
in order to regulate advertising for tobacco products or alcoholic
beverages.
They mainly concern the so called "audiovisual services".
A first important
step was taken with
Council Directive 1989/552/EEC of 3 October 1989, so-called "Television
Without Frontiers Directive"[1], which introduced severe rules for television
advertising for
tobacco and alcohol. This Directive was lastly amended by Directive
2007/65/EC[2], which strengthened the content of these rules and
extended their
scope, beyond broadcasting activities, to all audiovisual media
services,
including on-demand services, regardless of the platform trough which
they can
be accessed (e.g. traditional terrestrial television, satellite
television,
mobile, Internet…).
According to the
relevant provisions of
this now re-named "Audiovisual Media Services Directive", television
advertising or sponsoring cigarettes and other tobacco products,
including indirect
forms of advertising, as product placement, are prohibited[3]. In addition, television advertising and teleshopping
for alcoholic
beverages shall comply with various criteria, one of them being that
"it
may not be aimed specifically at minors or, in particular, depict
minors
consuming these beverages"[4].
Concerning more
particularly Internet and
the "websites for young people" who the Honourable Member refers to
in the last part of his question, the situation is different for
tobacco
products and alcoholic beverages.
As regards
tobacco, the "Tobacco
Advertising Directive"[5] regulates advertising of tobacco products in information
society
services, in the press and other printed publications as well as in
radio
broadcasting. Except a few cases, such kind of advertising is prohibited[6]. The report on the implementation on this Directive
highlighted
that Member States have transposed this ban into their legislation, but
that
issues remain, due to the difficulty to control the virtual environment[7]. The recent guidelines under the WHO Framework
Convention of
Tobacco Control[8] contain useful recommendations on what can be done
towards various
entities operating in the Internet – such as content producers,
publishers and navigators-, which should allow to overcome theses
difficulties
and to ensure an effective ban of advertising.
Concerning
advertising for alcoholic
beverages on Internet sites, there is at the moment no specific
regulation.
These websites are only covered by the AVMS Directive to the extent to
which
they are a platform for getting access to audiovisual media services.
As regards age
limits,
raised in the first paragraph of the question of the Honourable Member,
the
Council Recommendation on smoking prevention[9] recognises that it is essential to adopt measures aimed
particularly at reducing demand for tobacco products by children and
adolescents. A vast majority of Member States have a legal age limit
for buying
tobacco. The Recommendation asks Member States to require tobacco
vendors to
establish that buyers have reached the age for purchase of tobacco
required in
national law.
[1] Directive 89/552/EEC of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by Law, Regulation or Administrative Action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities, OJ L 298, 17.10.1989.
[2] Directive 2007/65/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 amending Council Directive 89/552/EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities, OJ L 332, 18.12.2007.
[3] See Article 3 e) 1.d ; Article 3 f) 2. and Article 3 g) 3 of the AVSM Directive.
[4] See Article 15 of the AVSM Directive.
[5] Directive 2003/33/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 26 May 2003 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products, OJ L 152, 20.6.2003.
[6] See Article 3 of Directive 2003/33/EC.
[7] Report from the Commission to the Council, the Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee - Report on the implementation of the tobacco advertising directive (2003/33/EC) /COM/2008/0330 final, adopted on 28 May 2008.
[8] Guidelines for implementation of Article 13 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship), www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/article_13/en/index.html
[9] Council Recommendation of 2 December 2002 on the prevention of smoking and on initiatives to improve tobacco control. OJ L 22, 25.1.2003.
Sophie
Van Damme
Information
Officer
______________________________________
144
Chaussée d'Ixelles B-1050 BRUXELLES
Tel:
+ 32 2 230 65 15 Fax: + 32 2 230 75 07
ENSP receives financial support from
the European
Commission via projects in the
framework of the
Public Health Programme.
Neither the European Commission, the
Executive
Agency for Health and Consumers or
ENSP are
responsible for any use that may be
made of the
information contained in this email.
Sophie
Van Damme
Information
Officer
______________________________________
144
Chaussée d'Ixelles B-1050 BRUXELLES
Tel:
+ 32 2 230 65 15 Fax: + 32 2 230 75 07
ENSP receives financial support from
the European
Commission via projects in the
framework of the
Public Health Programme.
Neither the European Commission, the
Executive
Agency for Health and Consumers or
ENSP are
responsible for any use that may be
made of the
information contained in this email.